UPCOMING EVENTS

Google Assistant will soon be able to complete multiple tasks with a single command, speak more than 30 languages, and allow people to use more than one language with their AI assistant. The news comes days before Mobile World Congress, which begins Monday in Barcelona, Spain.

“The Assistant is already available in eight languages, and by the end of the year it will be available in more than 30 languages, reaching 95 percent of all eligible Android phones worldwide,” Google VP of product Nick Fox said today in a blog post.

Multilingual support that allows people to speak more than one language to Google Assistant is also planned for later this year, starting with English, French, and German.

The addition of multilingual support is sure to help users who, for example, speak more than one language at home or feel most comfortable verbalizing commands in more than one language. Giving users the ability to speak more than one language may help Google understand how to best make voice computing services fit the natural way people speak in different regions around the world.

Also coming in the weeks ahead are Routines to complete multiple tasks with a single utterance. First announced last fall, Routines will allow you to do things like turn on the lights, read your reminders, and play your music. Beginning with commands like “Hey Google, I’m home,” Google Assistant will be able to respond to Routines for situations like when you’re on your way to work, on your way home, and arrive home.

Prior to the emergence of Google Assistant Routines, the My Day feature for a calendar rundown, traffic report, and latest news was the only multi-action feature available for Google Assistant.

The ability to create location-based reminders with a Google Home smart speaker will also become available in the weeks ahead so you can say things like “Remind me to print my report when I get to work.” Location-based reminders were previously made available for smartphones.

Finally, the Assistant Mobile OEM program to give mobile device makers ways to build deeper integrations with Google Assistant and integrate emerging tech like AI chips was also announced today.

Since its debut in 2016, Google Assistant has spread from the Allo chat app and Google Home speaker to Android smartphones and tablets, Android Auto, Android Wear, and Pixelbooks. Google Assistant is rumored to be coming next to Chromebooks, a move that would give educators the opportunity to extend the AI assistant to their students, since half of all primary and secondary students in the United States use Chromebooks.